What Do Puerto Ricans Really Think About The Puerto Rico Caucus?

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO– The Puerto Rico
Republican caucus is this Sunday and with 20 delegates up for
grabs, candidates have been playing hard to the island and its
voters.

But what does the average voter in Puerto Rico actually think
about the race?

Well, based on several interviews with local Puerto Ricans, it
seems like not a whole lot. In fact, finding anyone with any real
opinion on the Republican presidential candidates was a challenge
itself.

Take Anne and Vladimir of Ezense tourist shop in San Juan for
example, both of whom said they were indifferent about the
upcoming contest.

“I like local politics,” Vladimir said, while Anne added “Very
few people care [about the presidential primaries].”

Others, meanwhile, have heard about the caucus but know
relatively little about the candidates themselves. Inocencio
Ojeda, a 66-year-old vendor in San Juan, said he doesn’t plan to
vote and admitted to not knowing much about who’s actually
running.

“We know Obama, we don’t know the other ones,” he said.

Puerto Rico is considered in general more left-leaning, which may
have a chilling effect during this Republican primary. In the
2008 elections, 208 votes were cast during the Puerto Rico
Republican caucus, while 388,477 votes were cast in the
Democratic contest. Of course, both numbers pale in comparison to
the nearly 2 million votes cast in the 2008 gubernatorial
election.

Still, this kind of sentiment hasn’t stopped the candidates from
making their pitch on the island.

Romney has already
launched ads on the island and both he and Santorum have been
meeting with political higher-ups in recent days. Likewise, the
race has gotten play on television and newspapers.

Ronaldo Cabrera, a supervisor at Leaseway, a car rental service
outside of San Juan, said he first heard about the elections on
TV.

“I see them on the T.V. talking, but I don’t remember them,” he
said.

Though initially undecided, he later said with a smile that he
plans to vote for Santorum because he reminds him of the
“Mafioso.”

via AP Images

Perhaps one of the reasons for this seeming apathy is the fact
that much of what is being talked about doesn’t resonate with
Puerto Rican voters. Issues like abortion, which is legal in
Puerto Rico, and the debate over President Obama’s healthcare law
don’t really mean much to those living on the island, Cabrera
said.

The caucus, he said, is likely more important to Puerto Ricans
living in the United States.

What does seem to be universal, however, is the economy.

Cabrera, like many others, said that improving the economy should
be the number one priority.

According to Cabrera, the impact of the economic collapse can be
felt on the island and has hit the tourism industry particularly
hard. He said that Leaseway went from having 13 branches across
the island to 5.

However, while on the surface the main concern for Puerto Ricans
may be the economy, underneath most of the responses I heard was
the looming question over the island’s role in U.S. politics.

In Puerto Rico, voters are able to vote in the presidential
primaries but not in the general election, and this incongruity
seems to be on the minds of many of those interviewed, regardless
of their opinion on the race as a whole.

“How come we can vote for that and not the other?” Eva Marin,
co-owner of Tropical Vision, asked me. “It doesn’t make sense.”

And more often than not, the issue of statehood was brought up,
albeit to differing tunes.

Inoncencio Ojeda, the vendor in San Juan, belongs to the
independent party and said he thinks the U.S. should grant
independence to Puerto Rico.

“Nobody should be [kicked] out everybody should be free,” he
said. “Give us a chance to be independent.”

Meanwhile, Julio Guzman, a Puerto Rican who served in the U.S.
army for 25 years as a recruiter, said it wasn’t so black and
white.

“If the U.S. leaves here, I’ll move out the next day,” he told
me. Guzman said he wants Puerto Rico to become a state and
that with more U.S. intervention “things will get fixed.” But he
added that the way in which politics is currently being conducted
on the island is objectionable.

“They pick up the money and leave,” he said “They don’t care
about Puerto Rico. They like sleeping with the whore but don’t
want to marry her.”

Already, the issue of statehood has been brought up on numerous
counts in the candidates’ bid for the island’s delegates.
Santorum seems to be suffering from a
recent gaffe about Puerto Ricans needing to speak English and
each candidate has
taken a stance on the question.

And given the importance of the issue, it could be, more than
anything else, the deciding factor on who comes out of Sunday
ahead 20 delegates, and who doesn't.